Pressure washed the chassis and just have to scrape the big grease chunks off. Also got the brake assemblies cleaned. Ready to paint. Sending out the Hydro Brake booster to Karps in Inland CA for rebuild. Welded the neck of the water pump and cleaned it. Also rebuilt the rear brake cylinders with kits. Finished the manifold grinding and used steel epoxy to get it smooth before paint. And got back some small parts from blasting. Been working on other customer cars inbetween. Non HAMB friendly but pay the bills. This 46 is close to going back together. Radiator will go out to get boiled clean and checked for leaks. But yeah its going. Still having fun with this one. Oh! His original head came back from machine shop with the #3 exhaust valve fixed. It had 235 valves put into it years ago to be able to get valves easily. Its back on the motor.
Got the truck back on its tires. Brakes are complete and bled them today. No leaks. Ready for the painted motor to go back in. Only had to make 1 line connecting the master and booster. New front hoses though. Have the valve lash set cold +.005. Hydrovac booster rebuild looks great. And the pressure washing of the truck makes the wood underneath the top boards look awesome. It just needs new tops. Last pic is my new toy. 47 ford 2n tractor for the pasture mowing. Runs perfect and put new rear tires on it. Never knew they went so fast in 3rd gear!
The truck is Lookin' good. I have a warm spot for 8 and 9 N Ford tractors. I missed a new looking, unrestored 53 Jubilee model a few years ago, and it still bothers me. I guess I'll carry on with my Kubota 4x4. I don't have room for two, so why do I keep looking? Bob
Yeah kabotas can do everything these days but man do they cost alot. Wife wont let me get one of those.
Not when you do it the hard way like me. Resurect it from a junk pile, do all the work myself, and then wonder why I don't have enough time to spend on my Cameo. Bob
Looks great! That valve lash might be a bit tight if you're running stock cam and valve train. These old stovebolts were happy with a little click-clack in the valve train. I adjust my '55 intake valves to 0.008" and exhaust valves to 0.020" (235 ci engine severe service) hot.
Yup. I just meant that i added .005 to the normal setting. Once she warms up i will check the lash again to see what changed or didn't.
Pulled a couple of 3rd shifts on the truck and got the engine, trans, and accessories hooked up. All the way to the welding of the front firewall piece. Tonight will be the radiator and the distributor with plugs and wires. If i have enough energy i will fill with fluids and be ready to fire it back up tmrw sometime. Funny though because the customer was over and excited but started adding more things to do! Wants new glass and felts and new boards on bed. I was excited because i fixed the vacuum wiper. But i just want to get this done and get paid. One day... Will take a video of it running and then one driving in the yard when the axles go back in.
Got it fired up last night! But it has ZERO oil pressure!!!! Dangit. And the good water pump now leaks at the lower mounting bolt. AND it still wants to die when i rev it up past idle. Going to do some testing today but the only thing that is the same now is the rebuilt carburetor. May have to send it back out to get checked. Oil pump is easy enough to swap. And will check and get new water pump. Kinda sad news. Any thoughts on good idle but not good past idle running would be helpful. Dont think it has any vacuum leaks now with all the new hoses.
Update. Swapped oil pumps from original motor and now i have oil pressure. I did notice one of the tubes had some steel epoxy at its base that was old and cracking. Maybe that didnt help. Whatever. Checked the distributor and it had moved away from #1 when the pointer is at 5before tdc. Starts on a dime now. But still has that problem of not wanting to do anything but idle. Sucks because i have checked for leaks and dont find any. Really thinking that the carburetor is stuck or plugged internally at a jet or something. But thats just a gut guess. Anyone know any links to any other 216's with the same problem? Would like to find one.
Ace Auto said that the accelerator pump itself has gotten swollen and is stuck. Some fuel additives can do this but my use of ethanol gas and drano in the tube that drops into the bottom of the tank could have swollen it also. I guess i didnt clean out the drano enough. I used it to eat the varnish to clear the fuel line inside the tank. He sees this happen all the time and will put a new accelerator pump in it. Truck lives to fight another day. Now to remove it and ship it back out. And i will look into resealing the water pump that is leaking at the bottom bolt. Got new gaskets.
Accelerator pump has a leather wrap at the bottom. Didnt know leather and gasoline worked well together.
One would think that the gasoline would suck the moisture out of the leather, but then if it is being constantly submerged.
Solved my difficult to access engine problems with a big block and 700r4 mounted behind the cab. Bad pic but it's all I have.
Got the old wood off of the bed to prep it for the new wood. And just finished installing new glass with rubber and felt channels. Not easy to get the windshield right because it had alot of rust in the lower middle of the window frame. But it came out nice enough. Carb came back from shop and they said they flow tested it and it was good and clean. Thought it was the governor not working so he adjusted it full open. Said it should not have any problems now. We hope because i will shoot someone if it has the same problem. Turns out the accelerator pump was a brass ended one with no problems too. So tonight i will get the radiator back on and fill it with fluids for the test. If its good then axles and some yard driving tmrw! Woohoo. Time to get paid.
Gonna shoot a small video today because this thing runs GREAT now! And i will be driving it. Only small issue left with drivability is the reverse lockout cable is needing some help. Doesnt pull up enough to get reverse. May put a new cable on it. Big issue now is that the clutch is working great but the trans is grinding when trying to put it in every gear. I can start the truck in gear with the clutch depressed easy and its idle is not high so i have to see whats going on with this trans. Maybe its toast? One too many bails of hay on the farm maybe?
Very nice! Mine's not quite that cherry but it's close. I'll pm you so we don't get too off topic and derail this thread.
Wow this truck really drives like a truck! Trans is ok and shifts good when you double clutch it. Im not very good at that. Steering is tight but the front tires are gone. Out of round and bumpy. I felt like a logging truck driver. Really low gears except from 3rd to 4th it seems to be missing a gear. Meaning 3rd is pretty low and fourth is way higher. Oh well. This is how it was i guess. Had both my kids in it with me and had it driving 50 from the speedo and they said it was loud and scary but they liked it. Got all the lights except markers working. Dont see how to get inside the marker lights. No screws. All the guages are working and thats the cherry on top of this project. Total time capsule. Got the video but need help to post it. That will be the last post on this one from me.
Double clutching a non syncro trans like a Model A is not that bad with practice. Eventually you will get good enough at it that you will only need the third (clutch) pedal to stop and start and shift it with the RPM of the engine and trans synchronized.
The Jalopy Journal
